


The Turning of the Tide

by Mithen



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-30
Updated: 2010-03-30
Packaged: 2017-10-08 12:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark and Lori meet again, two years after their romance ends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Turning of the Tide

The tide is turning.

Clark stands on the white sand in his bathing suit and waits, hearing the lapping of the waves, smelling the salt in the air.  The sun is setting, sliding into a purple dusk.  When her dark head breaks the water, sleek as a seal's, he smiles and waves, then plunges into the water to meet her.  They hug in the breaking waves, foam white across her bare breasts, tipped with coral.  Clark learned long ago not to try and teach her it's more proper to cover them.

They sit on the sand and talk as she squeezes the water from her hair.  A sandpiper tilts a curious head at the two of them and skitters down the beach, dodging waves.  Their conversation is easy, familiar.

It has been exactly two years since they last saw each other.

"How's work?" she asks, smiling.  "Both kinds," she adds before he can ask.

"Busy," he says.  "Both kinds.  I've made a few friends, both at the Planet and in my other identity.  There've been a few...roadblocks, some setbacks.  But I think I'm doing all right.  You?"

"I finally managed to synthesize that plankton I've been working on for ages!"  Her face is bright and animated as she talks.  Clark watches her.  He remembers the soft susurration a hand makes, drawn across her shining scales.  He remembers her hair, a cloud all around him in the water, shifting.  Slowly he becomes aware she is looking at him without speaking, a shy smile on his face.  "Clark, I...I think I've found someone," she says hesitantly.

He waits for pain and finds none.  "I'm glad," he says simply, without forced enthusiasm but with honesty, and her eyes soften.  "What's he like?"

"He's a scientist.  He's brilliant, Clark.  Brilliant and kind and...I think we'll be married soon."

He nods and looks out over the waves.  "That's good.  That's very good, Lori."  He smiles and is surprised to find how easy it is.  "Can I be your children's godfather?"

"Oh, _children,_" she says, blushing, and tosses a bit of seaweed at him.  "It's a bit early for that!"  He waits, and she reaches out and touches his hand, fleetingly, like a silver fish.  "But of course, Clark.  Of course."  After a moment, she says, "And you?  Are you...seeing anyone?"

Clark draws random patterns in the sand.  "Not really.  I'm...pretty busy, after all." 

He looks up to see her eyes filled with affection.  "I hope you find someone perfect for you, Clark."

A wave strikes the bottoms of Clark's feet;  the tide is coming in.  He swims out with her until the water turns deep, then bids her goodbye.  She winds her arms around his neck and kisses him, her lips cool and clean as seawater.

After she is gone, he treads water for a long time, looking up at the sky.  He feels the ocean shifting around him with the pull of the moon, gravity's irresistible lure, drawing the world onward.

The tide turns.  



End file.
